The use of discrete impact-absorbing elements in armor shields for vehicles and personal armor articles is known. Such discrete impact-absorbing elements in the form of flat circular discs, hexagon-shaped elements, pellets, etc. are exemplified in the disclosures of U.S. Pat. Nos. 921,352 to Blaker et al., 1,021,804 to Schneider, 1,282,411 to Golembiowski, 1,290,799 to Talley, 3,563,836 to Dunbar, 3,867,239 to Alesi et al., 5,134,725 to Teshurun et al., 5,515,541 to Sacks et al., 5,972,819 to Cohen, 6,035,438 to Neal et al., 6,112,635 to Cohen, 6,170,378 to Neal et al., 6,203,908 to Cohen, 6,289,781 to Cohen, 6,370,690 to Neal, 6,408,734 to Cohen, 6,510,777 to Neal, 6,575,075 to Cohen, 6,745,661 to Neal et al., 6,860,186 to Cohen, and 6,892,623 to Benyami et al., and U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2004/0020353 to Ravid et al., 2005/0072294 to Cohen and 2005/0087064 to Cohen.
In general, the prior art armor shields include discrete impact-absorbing elements that are either arranged in a common plane or otherwise partially overlap to form a continuous protective shield. However, the prior art armor shields are preformed and in general are not designed to be easily repaired in the field.
The present invention provides a modular construction system that can be used to construct a variety of structural units including, but not limited to, armor shields. The modular construction system of the present invention allows quick and easy field construction and repair as well as the construction of multi-layered protection.